Same-sex marriages should be registered only under Special Marriage Act, not Hindu Marriage Act: Plea in Delhi High Court

A plea has been filed before the Delhi High Court against registration of same-sex marriages under the Hindu Marriage Act..The plea filed by Sanjeev Newar and Swati Goel Sharma of an organisation named Sewa Nyay Utthan Foundation said that the Hindu Marriage Act is derived from dharmic texts which allow marriages only between a man and woman.Hence, registration of same-sex marriages should be allowed only under secular laws like Special Marriage Act, it was submitted.The plea was filed as an intervention application in an pending case before the High Court for registration of same-sex marriages in the country. .A Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh heard the matter on Friday and said that it will hear the application with the bunch of similar matters listed on February 3. .The plea argued that the Hindu Marriage Act is directly derived from Hindu Dharmic texts like the Vedas and Upanishads, where a marriage is defined as only being allowed between a 'biological male' and 'biological female'. "As per Vedas (the sourcebook of Hinduism), marriage happens only between a male and a female to fulfill certain worldy and religious duties. In fact, most Veda Mantras recited during Hindu Vivaah or describing the ritual of marriage refer to a biological male and a biological female. This has been the practice since times immemorial across almost all Hindu sampradayas without any variation in essence," the application said. It added that any attempt to tinker with the Hindu Marriage Act in a way that it affects the age-old harmless beliefs of Hindus will be a direct intrusion by a secular State into the religious rights of Hindus. .The plea added that same-sex marriages should either be registered under secular laws like the Special Marriage Act or under all religious laws like the Muslim Marriage Law and the Sikhs' Anand Marriage Act."It must be made religion-neutral," the plea argued."The petitioners have stated no objection if such marriages are registered under acts other than Hindu Marriage Act such as Special Marriage Act and Foreign Marriage Act. If it must be registered under Hindu Marriage Act, it must happen for all religions," it said. The plea also argued that before the Court decides in favour of same-sex marriages for Hindus, it must first consider systems where the marriage is merely a ‘civil contract’ such as Nikah. "Before allowing registration of same-sex marriages for Hindus who have a more than 10,000 year history, it must begin with newer faiths such as Muslims (1400 years old), Christians (2000 year old), Parsi (2500 year old)," the plea stated.